Studebaker's 1962 "Operation Airlift"

From Ed -- The Avanti Owners Association International will be meeting on Saturday, September 7, at the Marriott at the University of Dayton.  The theme of the meet is "Studebaker's Operation Airlift" -- the promotion for the launch of the Avanti which I was vaguely family with.  Two Avanti's were ferried cross-country in a C82-A Fairchild Packet plane landing at airports in 26 cities.  The plane landed here in Dayton to introduce Cincinnati Zone dealers to the Avanti.

Can you imagine how expensive it would have been, even back then, to do that kind of marketing? 

And then reminiscence from Studebaker historian Bob Ebert – 

“In 1962 my Dad had a 1962 Studebaker Lark purchased from Koepke Motors in Lakewood, Ohio.  Harold Koepke and his wife were members f our church and we knew them well.  One morning, I believe it was in May 1962,  my Dad called me in my dorm room at Baldwin-Wallace College and said Koepke had just called him and offered tickets for us to go see the Avanti being flown into Cleveland Airport for a dealer showing.  Dad asked if I wanted to go.  You can guess my response.  The attached photos are very primitive - taken with my Mom's cheap Brownie camera.  But, they give an idea of what the event was like.  To this day, it remains one of the high points of my automotive life.”